The first issue of Liminality is so gorgeous, you guys. And it has a poem by me about hobbits. (As well as amazing work from Sofia Samatar, Adrienne J. Odasso, Lisa M. Bradley, Erik Amundsen, Gemma Files… Basically just drop what you’re doing and read this whole thing, okay, guys? It is delish. 😀 )
Autism News, 15/09/2014
The autism news this month is a doozy; there are several different unrelated Sad Things making the rounds. First, though, some miscellaneous non-sad news:
- Leah Kelley interviews Lei Wiley-Mydske about the Ed Wiley Autism Acceptance Lending Library
- Jim C. Hines on writing his autistic character in the Libriomancer books, Nicola Pallas
- M. Kelter on proprioception and the sense of self
- Real Social Skills on how to accept disability without putting pressure on yourself to like everything about it
- Corina Becker on autism and grief
- Alyssa Hillary on why Tumblr has an #actuallyautistic tag
In the wake of Ferguson, a lot of people have been reflecting on interactions between disabled people and law enforcement – particularly for disabled people of colour.
- A statement on police violence by Sins Invalid
- And one from the Washington Post by Harold Braswell
- Kerima Cevik explains why training autistic people on how to deal with law enforcement, and vice versa, isn’t working
- S.E. Smith on disabled people judged incompetent to appear in court, who are held for years without trial
Kelli Stapleton, an “autism parent” blogger who attempted a murder-suicide of her 14-year-old autistic daughter last year, recently pled guilty to first-degree child abuse. This has renewed the debate online about how to discuss this and similar cases.
- Landon Bryce talks about problems with the autism parent community
- Shannon des Roches Rosa talks about changing these conversations
- Meanwhile, since my last news post, four more people were murdered for being autistic; three by their parents, and one by law enforcement.
Meanwhile, a new study reveals what disability advocates have been saying for years – that a lack of sex education puts disabled people at risk in multiple respects, including a heartbreakingly high rate of sexual victimization.
- Michelle Diament sums up these results
- S.E. Smith has a more detailed explanation of the problems with sex education for disabled people
- Autistic Fandom Things reminds us that, in addition to its other problems, a great deal of “rape prevention” advice is inaccessible or inappropriate for disabled people
Other sad things:
- Real Social Skills on a basic underlying problem with all ABA techniques
- A Labor Day reminder about sheltered workshops
- Germany recently unveiled a memorial for the tens of thousands of disabled people killed during the Holocaust
That’s it for this post; now go have some chocolate, if you made it to the end, and cheer yourself up!!